Crates of Sausage and Overnight Pies: The Best Food and Booze Gifts for 2014

Is there a more classic, and disappointing, holiday gift than mail-order fruitcake? We don’t think so. But now, thanks to the World Wide Web, you can stuff your friends and relatives with much better mail-order goodies than “I think that’s a raisin” cake. From piles of Murray’s cheese to impress your in-laws to the Little Pie Company’s sour-cream, apple-walnut forgive-me-for-not-coming-home-this-year pie, to $100 small-batch honey for the person who Instagrams their Vitamix, plus all of the booze to wash it down. So eat, drink, and merrily save that caviar for yourself.

A LITERAL HAM

“WHY YES, IT’S AN OLD FAMILY RECIPE”

Take off the label and impress your relatives with your baking prowess, thanks to the elves at Brooklyn Larder who make this fruitcake-be-damned delicious pistachio cake, $49; the bites of instant happiness from Little Pie Company, $8-$30; and then credit “the Cronut guy” for the Dominique Ansel Bakery 10-piece canelé box, $33.